Morning Walk-Through at Six-Party Talks

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I’m meeting the head of the international department of the Communist Party [inaudible].

QUESTION: How do you spell it?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: Did I pronounce it right? Wang Jia Rui.

QUESTION: What are you talking about, the main topic?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: North Korea. He has made a number of trips there, and I have seen him from time to time and would like to hear his opinion of where things stand. And then I get on a plane and go to Moscow.

QUESTION: Ambassador, yesterday you mentioned that you’d been making progress on the declaration itself. Are you talking about recent progress or progress since last August?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: No, through the month of December, when we had some discussions with them and the South Koreans did and the Chinese as well. We felt we had expanded the scope of the declaration, but we don’t believe it is complete. And for that reason, we don’t really want to accept an incomplete declaration. I think they understand what we need to see in the declaration. I think there is a consensus among the countries involved that they need to live up to the requirement, which is spelled out in the October 3rd statement, which has to be complete and correct.

QUESTION: All the shipments from Russia and the United States have not been completed yet?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: There is no shipment from the U.S. due now. There will be a shipment. As you know, we -- the U.S. and Russia -- are doing the HFO, and South Korea and China are looking at the oil equivalent. And Japan is not participating in any way in this.

QUESTION: That oil shipment was supposed to be transported in November and December --

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: My understanding is that the Russian shipment is beginning to arrive, but I’ll get some further insights on that when I am in Moscow.

QUESTION: Do you think that delay has as impact on the progress of the declaration and disablement?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY HILL: I don’t know. It shouldn’t. I know the Russian authorities are working as fast as they can to try to make the shipments. So I don’t think it should be having an impact on getting a complete declaration. We never talked about incomplete oil shipments and therefore incomplete declarations. There is no kind of linkage of that kind.

All right. See you later.